Fury Road will either be a blockbuster or a bomb.

[Wood]

thinking back to when mad max 2 broke in the uk ... it was the new age of home video ... and the video nasty ... i clearly remember seeing the trailer on tv and thinking -i need to see this film- and at school everyone was talking about it ... it had the zeitgeist for a while i think down to its sheer brutality and the oddness / australian-ness ( in a good way ) of it all ... and lets not forget that to a lot of people ... this was a sequel to an unknown original ! what a strange outsider piece of cinema all round

and yet i remember the trailer to this better than most movies i watched several times - even though i never saw it since on youtube etc

if this new film can go halfway to channelling the same combination of mood-piece vision and tour-de-force, perhaps in different terms ... it will bankroll well enough

[DetritusMaximus]

Kind of wierd to think of Road Warrior as a bordering on artfilm, huh? Even though it's an action movie, it makes few concessions to the typical lowest common denominator film making and makes every effort to make the viewer accept it on it's own terms.

[boomerang]

When I saw it in summer 82 in New Jersey, it did play in a theater that played less than traditional movies. It wasn't so much an art house, but slightly off-center. I only knew about it because I read Starlog religiously. The only reason I was able to see it, was that Time Magazine gave it a great review. My parents weren't snobs, but they were more likely to take me to a "R' film if it had gotten good press. At the time, I was only 13, and in the suburbs, age restrictions were taken very seriously. My father took me, and I he got into it.

Oddly, it was viewed more as a Foreign film.

[kickherintheguts]

Plus, the summer of 82 was deluged with tons of mainstream sci-fi/action movies. I remember starting my summer off by watching Psycho II, Poltergeist, Star Trek II, The Thing, ET, Blade Runner, just to name a few and I think I ended the summer by seeing Tron in August.

Point is I don't see where they could have stuck MM2 in that summer except for an art-house theater, even if it was the better movie. I'd have to say that summer was the biggest ever for me movie wise and although I can't remember seeing any ads around Kansas City for MM2, they had to have played it somewhere. I bet they played it at the downtown KC art-house theater and in the movie section of the KC newspaper there was a little ad for The Road Warrior that was so unknown to 16 yr. old kids like me that neither I nor my friends even noticed. I had not even seen MM1 up to that point!

I'm thinking it was prolly an ad like this:
http://www.movieposter.com/poster/MPW-4 ... rrior.html

Thankfully, MM1 and MM2 had many other ways to enter the zeitgeist; late night cable and esp. home video.
I wonder how many people out there have the Mad Max movies on Beta?

[CriticAndProud]

I imagine we may have a Dredd/ Shawshank Redemption problem. Both movies were excellent and were well recieved critically, but didn't go well at Box Office. While it is a famous license, it has been a long time since the last MM movie, so interest could have gone down a lot.

[kickherintheguts]

I imagine we may have a Dredd/ Shawshank Redemption problem. Both movies were excellent and were well recieved critically, but didn't go well at Box Office. While it is a famous license, it has been a long time since the last MM movie, so interest could have gone down a lot.

I think you're right on the money.They have to build a lot of buzz for Fury Road before it can be released.

[ralfy]

Related:

"Steven Spielberg and George Lucas predict film industry 'implosion'"

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/ju ... m-industry

That is, there's too much money and large marketing budgets, thus prompting the need for greater sales through overseas markets. That means more focus on a PG rating, special effects, and action scenes to go past various cultural and language barriers.

[Stamper]

Dredd bombed because Lionsgate didn't want it to succeed.

Warner wants MMFR to be hit. No compare.

[Modern Wastelander]

I think it'll either be a success but not have the same "feel" to it as the older movies, or it will be just as good (or greater than) the originals and be a box office bomb.

I just don't think society is interested in the character of Max. If you just read a synopsis, Mad Max sounds like action movies, but there's something.... different to them. There's action and destruction, but it's not over the top. It's almost like just a back drop to the the man himself. The action isn't the centerpiece, Max Rockatansky is. I don't think that would fly in the modern world of massive explosions and shallow characters. We've got the same director though, so I could be wrong. Anyone else understanding what I'm saying?

[Get the bullet]

Exactly. Miller is directing. It's his baby. He admitted Thunderdome wasn't right and I'm sure after having plenty of time to think this movie through he will get it right. I at least have confidence in him for this movie for what I've seen of the vehicles, characters including the new Max. It's a reboot but Miller knows to keep the core elements that made the movies well known.
My guess is that it will make its money back at least and if it gets reviewed well and gets good word of mouth it will go on to be good a good hit in the UK, Aus and US.